The Maturin and Johnston Families

Augustus 1828

J162E) Augustus JOHNSTON born on 12th March 1828, eighth son of Benjamin Johnston & his wife Catherine née Graydon, christened on 13th April 1828 in Rathdrum, Co Wicklow. Qualified from Trinity College, Dublin as a medical doctor in 1853. He began his practice in Hawkshead and later moved to Ambleside where he & his family lived in Gale House.

He was an admirable example of that now fast disappearing type, the old-world " family physician." A man of wide and varied culture, gifted with a lively imagination and a large and gracious sympathy; of refined and gentle courtesy, genial and cheery in temperament, and at the same time skilful in his profession and well abreast of the advancing knowledge of the day, he quickly became to his patients something more than a medical adviser.
Outside his profession he had many interests. Of a singularly open mind, he pursued with avidity any path that seemed to make for wider knowledge. He was a great temperance advocate, an adept in shorthand and in Esperanto.
He married Mysie RIGBY in November 1860 in St Peter's Church, Dublin. His brother, the Reverend Henry Graydon Johnston conducted the service. Mysie was born in 1832. They had six children, two daughters and four sons. Mysie died in 1880, aged 44 and is buried in Ambleside graveyard.

J162E1) Benjamin Rigby JOHNSTON was born in September 1861 in Dublin. He was educated at Rossall School and in Dublin and Brussels, qualifying as a medical doctor in 1884, also M.R.C.S. Eng. and M.D. Brussels in 1890. After various resident appointments in Dublin hospitals he became a ship surgeon in 1886 to the Far East; he then acted as assistant at Birkenhead for a year or two and in 1888 settled in Grasmere, where he practised continuously for 58 years. He remained a bachelor and lived at Rose Cottage, Grasmere, with his sister Katherine. He had numerous interests, especially literary and archaeological, being secretary to Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum. He died on 17th March 1946, aged 84, and was buried in Grasmere Cemetery after a funeral service at St Oswald's Parish Church.

J162E2) William Arthur JOHNSTON born in 1863 in Hawkeshead, Lancs. He qualified as a medical doctor in 1886. He married Emily BOWATER in Bangor, 4th Quarter 1896. They had no children. In the 1913 Medical Directory he is practising in Ravenglass, Cumberland. William died on 29th March 1933 and is buried in Muncaster.

J162E3) Augustus Henry Graydon JOHNSTON, third son of Augustus & Mysie, born about 1865 in Hawkeshead, Lancs. He qualified as a medical doctor in 1886. He married Isabel TOSH in Ulverston, 4th Quarter 1899. Isabel was born in Ulverston, 3rd Quarter 1876. Augustus worked in Heysham and Scunthorpe. He died in Hendon on 24th March 1932 aged 68 years, and is probably buried in Scunthorpe. Isabel died 1st Quarter 1935, in Carlisle. They had two sons :

J162E31) Hugh Graydon JOHNSTON was born 2nd Quarter 1900 in Heysham. Hugh was motor salesman, living at 14 Holmstall Avenue, Edgware, Middlesex when he married Elsie Ada JONES, in Scunthorpe on 7th June 1930. Elsie was born in 1902. Hugh bacame a vacuum cleaner salesman.

During the war, Hugh was away for 6 years in the R.A.F. and Elsie & their two children followed him around from station to station in a little Austin 7 !
After the war in 1946, Hugh & Elsie (Pop & Marty) bought a restaurant with Hugh’s de-mob pay, The Chequers Tea Room in Rickmansworth. The restaurant didn’t do well, they took a long time to learn the ropes… They eventually sold up and decided to join their son Peter in Southern Rhodesia (1956), with their daughter Susan.
Hugh had a slight heart attack on arriving in Salisbury so he immediately bought a farm in Banket, although Peter felt that he hadn’t acquired enough experience. (Banket is about 100 kms north of Salisbury) Hugh died in 1969. The farm was sold and Marty moved into a small cottage beside Peter & Pam’s house. She helped a lot looking after her grandchildren. She died in 1997, aged 96.

J162E311) Peter Richard Graydon JOHNSTON, born in Scunthorpe on 8th March 1931. He was educated at Rossall School, Fleetwood, Lancs. When he left school he worked as a farm labourer and then emigrated to Southern Rhodesia in 1954. He worked as assistant on a farm in Ingledorn.
Peter then ran the family farm in Banket , with his sister. They grew tobacco, sunflower, cotton and beans, with a shop and a school and daily clinic for their African workers.
The farmhouse, which was built with homemade bricks and a thatched roof, was in a very bad state of repair when they arrived. Their African workers lived in thatched huts. None of them spoke English so Peter & Susan had to learn Chilapalapa, a mixture of Africaans and Shona …
It was very, very hard work but a good healthy life.
Peter met his future wife out there – Pamela Margaret ASKE. Pamela was born in Halifax, Yorkshire and was working as a theatre nurse in Southern Rhodesia for a year.
The farm was sold at the beginning of the 1970s. Peter went into the Cotton Co-op as a consultant and later worked for Dellswear and Saybrook, dress manufacturers, before opening a pharmacy with his wife Pam.
Peter died on 19th November 2001. They had four children.

J162E312) Susan JOHNSTON
Special thanks to Sue who lives in Harare for all her help in writing this chapter of the Johnston Story. Research on this branch of the family was proving difficult until her nephew Mark, in Mozambique, found the Maturin/Johnston site on internet and got in touch.

After the war Geoffrey was stationed in the UK until 1947 when he was posted to RAF Changi in Singapore. He and the family were there until 1950 (he helped design the golf course at Changi and was an avid golfer for most of his life).
In the early fifties he was commanding officer at RAF Hemswell in Lincolnshire and then at RAF Scampton also in Lincolnshire. In 1954 he was stationed at HQ Bomber Command in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
In 1956 he was posted as Air Attache to Cairo and was there during the ‘Suez crisis’. The family were sent home in September 1956 and Geoffrey was interned in the British Embassy until December of that year.
He was retired from the RAF in late 1957 and the following year joined the Colonial Service and was posted to Nigeria. He was there for self-government and a year later for Independence. Geoffrey and Kathleen were posted to various places in Northern Nigeria and he retired again in 1967.
Kathleen died in April 1990. Geoffrey died in Cheltenham in July 1994. They had two children.

J162E4) Katherine Frances JOHNSTON born in 1866 in Hawkeshead, Lancs. She remained a spinster and lived with her brother Benjamin in Grasmere (1901 census) She died in 1934, and is buried in Grasmere.

J162E5) George Ainslie JOHNSTON born in 1869 in Hawkeshead, Lancs, he qualified as a medical doctor in 1888 and practised in Ambleside, Westmoreland for more than fifty years. He remained a bachelor and died on 8th June 1949, aged 81. He is buried in Ambleside.

One of his patients was the well-known exiled German artist, Kurt Schwitters. George was more than his doctor, he was a good friend and they used to play chess together in the evening. The portrait of Dr George Johnston (right) is one of the best known of Schwitters’ Ambleside works. See the Armitt Collection website for more information.

J162E6) Emily Mysie JOHNSTON born about 1869 in Hawkeshead, Lancs. She lived with her father and brother George in Ambleside. She remained a spinster and died on 7th July 1950, aged 82. She is buried in Ambleside.

In 1883, Augustus married secondly Judith Ann METCALFE, born 11th May 1839. He died on 6th September 1907, aged 79. He is buried in Ambleside. Judith died on 27th September 1919 and is buried in Ambleside.

Thank you to Jean Johnston who was a great help with the research into the Ambleside branch.

J162Tw) Arthur Charles JOHNSTON born in Dublin on 16th November 1833 (Upper Pembroke St) and baptised in St Peter's Church, Dublin on 3rd January 1834. He emigrated to New Zealand with William and Edward. He married Sarah Annie PETCHELL in 1863 in Balclutha, Otago. They had no children. He died on 22nd July 1876 aged 41 years (pleuro-pneumonia). He is buried in the Southern cemetery, Dunedin.

J163) John JOHNSTON born 1780, married Anne ??. They lived in Ashley Lodge, Ballymacarrett, Co Down, near Belfast. Anne Johnston died on 25th May 1820, aged 33 years.

J1633) Margaret JOHNSTON born in May 1818, she died on 13th July 1821, aged 3 years. She is buried in Clifton St cemetery, Belfast.

John married secondly Agnes GEMMILL on 14th November 1823 at Rosemary St Presbyterian Church, Shankill, Belfast. Witnesses : John Gemmill and Margaret Wilson. John Johnston died in February 1833, aged 53. He is buried in Clifton St Graveyard, Belfast. Agnes remarried, to Dr John Scott on 9th April 1835. She died on 12th June 1845 and is buried in Clifton St Graveyard. John and Agnes had 3 children :

J1634) Robert JOHNSTON, born 1826. He died in Bangor , Co Down on 14th May 1843 and is buried in Clifton St cemetery.

J1635) Edmond JOHNSTON son of John Johnston & his second wife Agnes Gemmill, born about 1830. He became a solicitor and lived in Clifton Terrace, Salt Hill, Monkstown, Co Dublin. His mental state of health began to decline and he was looked after by his brother-in-law, Dr John Milford Barnett who placed him in St Luke's Asylum in London from 1863 to 1866. At the end of 1866, he was confined to Moorcroft Asylum , Hillingdon, Middlesex.
The 1891 census confirms that he was still at this address, a retired solicitor, a lunatic.
He died at Moorcroft on 3rd May 1899, aged 68

J1636) Mary Elizabeth Catherine JOHNSTON born in 1831. She married Dr John Milford BARNETT, in Trinity Church,Paddington parish, Middlesex on 14th October 1859. John Barnett was born in Belfast on 28th September 1830, son of Richard Barnett of Belfast and Holywood and Sarah, daughter of John Milford. John Barnett was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and Edinburgh University and joined the Bombay Artillery in 1853. He served as surgeon (rank of Major) with the 26th Bombay Regiment. John Barnett retired from the Army in 1869. Vice-President of the Irish Temperance League, he formed the Holywood Band of Hope, with double pledge, and 300 members; in Belfast his years and energies were occupied with the work of numerous missions and associations, including the Presbyterian Orphan Society for all Ireland. Mary died at Croft House, Holywood, Co Down on 16th February 1875 aged 44 years. She is buried in Clifton St cemetery, Belfast.

They had eight sons :

John Gemmill BARNETT, born 1st November 1860, in Ahmedabad, India. He died on 1st October 1861, aged eleven months.

John Gemmill BARNETT, second son of Mary née Johnston & John Milford Barnett, born on 29th April 1862, in Deesa, India. Educated at Lurgan College and Heversham Grammar School, Kendal (Cumbria). He was a businessman and travelled from Belfast to Argentina – Rosario, Alberdi province of Santa Fe - as of representative of Lloyds. He married Susan Marsh in 1894 (Belfast). In England, they lived at Lavender Lodge, Biddenham, Bedfordshire. Susan died on 6th June 1936.

John and Susan had four children :

Gladys Antoinette BARNETT, born 29th January 1895 in Riverside, Rosario de Santa Fé, Argentina. Christened on 3rd July 1895 in St Bartholomew’s Anglican Church in Rosario. Gladys married Lieutenant George Aubrey Thomas DARBY, Honourable Artillery Company, at the Chapel Royal, Tower of London, on 4th July 1918. Lt. Darby was born in Wandsworth, 4th Quarter 1890. He was awarded a Star Medal in 1914-15 when Captain. Promoted to Lieutenant in 1916, he obtained the British War and Victoria medals in 1918. They had a son:

Nigel A.B. DARBY, born 1st June 1921. He joined the Royal Engineers and was killed in action on 7th June 1941, aged 20. He is buried in grave 23262, St Mary’s Avenue, Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey..

George and Gladys divorced in October 1931.

George remarried in 2nd Q 1932, to Marjorie SOMERSMITH née DUNCAN. He died in 1960.

Gladys married secondly on 27th September 1933, Major Philip Claude NICHOLLS, at St Ethelburga-the Virgin, Bishopsgate. Philip, son of the Rev & Mrs F.H. Nicolls of Woodbridge, Ipswich was born in 1893. He died in 1956. Gladys died on 17th September 1969 and was cremated at Golders Green.

John Maurice BARNETT, born 27th March 1898, in St Leonards on Sea. John married Georgina Margaret ARNOLD-FOSTER, on 15th October 1949, at Shalford Parish Church. Georgina was born 22nd July 1908 and died in July 1987.

Richard Dennis Gemmill BARNETT, born 1906. He married Evelyn ALLEN in 1933.
They had a son :

Richard BARNETT, born 1935

William Reginald Neville Bruce BARNETT, born 1908. Neville married Dawn Newsome BAXTER 2nd Quarter ?(Dawn (Aurora Mary Elizabeth Newsome) born 14th March 1907, died in 1981.) They had a daughter:

Mary Elizabeth BARNETT

Milford Bruce BARNETT, third child of John and Mary Barnett, born 19th November 1863, in Deesa. Milford attended Heversham Grammar School, Kendal, Cumbria from 1878 to 1880.

Kennet Bruce BARNETT, fourth child of John and Mary Barnett, born 27th October 1865, in Deesa. Kennet died on 4th May 1866 in Holywood, Co Down, Northern Ireland.

Kennet Bruce BARNETT, fifth child of John and Mary Barnett, born 22nd September 1867, in Holywood, Co Down. Educated at Methodist College, Belfast and Heversham Grammar School, Kendal (Cumbria). He studied medecine at Queen’s College, Belfast and joined the Army Medical Service as surgeon lieutenant in 1894. Surgeon Captain 1897; Major 1905; Lieutenant-Colonel 1915; served in the Tirah campaign North West Frontier 1897-8 and in World War I. Kennet retired in 1919. He married Rosa A. FENTIMAN in Paddington, 4th Quarter 1927. They lived at Oakwood, Ledborough Lane, Beaconfield, Buckinghamshire. (Rosa Alice HUMPHRIES was born in 1871 in St Olave. She married firstly John Percy FENTIMAN in 1893 and had a son, John Fentiman.) Kennet died 31st August 1941 aged 72. Rosa died in 1942 aged 71. On the death of his wife, Kennet left £1000 to Dr Barnardo’s Homes, £1000 to Epsom College and £500 to Heversham Grammar School.

Leslie BARNETT, sixth child of John and Mary Barnett, born around 1869. Educated at Heversham Grammar School, Kendal (Cumbria). Leslie lived in Rosario de Santa Fé , Argentina. He died in London on 1st September 1925, aged 57 and is buried in Acton cemetery.

Ashley Johnston BARNETT, seventh son, born on 6th June 1870 at The Spa Hotel in Ballynahinch, Co Galway. He travelled extensively to South America and settled in Mendoza, Argentina. He also had an address in London, 50 Queen’s Gardens. He died suddenly at the Pacific Railway Station in Mendoza on 19th November 1928, aged 58. Probate was granted to his brother Kennet.

Heber Hope Johnston BARNETT, eighth and youngest son of John and Mary Barnett, born in Holywood, Co Down on 5th December 1871. Educated at Heversham Grammar School, Kendal (Cumbria). Like his brothers, Heber spent a lot of time in South America. He died in Guayquil, Ecuador on 7th March 1912, following an operation.

John Milford Barnett married secondly Selina Boyd, in Sept 1875 in Clifton, Gloucestershire. John Barnett died in 1913 in Bexhill-on-Sea, aged 83. Selina died in 1927. They had three daughters (1901 Census) :

Mary Florence Boyd BARNETT, born in Ireland 1876. In both the 1901 census sheets Mary is living at home with her parents, at 21 Amherst Road, Bexhill on Sea, Sussex.
After their deaths, Mary travelled, to Australia, probably to see her sister & family (1930) and then she is on the passenger list of a ship going from Honolulu to San Francisco in February 1931.
She lived at 6 Marine Parade, Ventor, Isle of Wight and died there in 1952.

Edith Isabel Campbell (Isabel) BARNETT, born about 1878, in Ireland.

On 4th June 1901, Isabel married Stanley Charles Wentworth WILSON at St Leonards on Sea, Sussex. Stanley was born in 1872 in Armidale, NSW, Australia, son of Irish-born parents, Charles Graham WILSON & his wife Annie Jane née McBride. Stanley's father Charles was Mayor of Armidale for five terms between 1890 and 1907 and also Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly 1898–1901.

Isabel & Stanley went out to Australia after their wedding.

Stanley and Isabel in 1901

Stanley was an Auctioneer in Armidale. The Wilson family house, “Loombra”, was built in the late 1880s for Charles Wilson, a stock & station agent, and it remained in the family until 1945. The house has many typical late Victorian features : bay windows, cast-iron veranda decoration and bull-nosed iron roofing.

Stanley died in London, England in March 1944 and is (probably) buried in Amberley, Gloucestershire. Isabel died in Brisbane, Queensland in July 1951. They had five children:

Milford Graham WILSON, born in Armidale, NSW, in 1902. Milford qualified as a Medical Doctor and he practiced in Toowoomba, Queensland. He married Edith TALBOT in 1928 in Woollahra, NSW and had one son.

Talbot Milford Stanley WILSON 1929-2012

Laura Isabel WILSON, second child of Stanley and Isabel born in Armidale, NSW, in 1903. Laura married Robert Arundel MacKENZIE in Armidale, NSW, at St Peter's Cathedral in 1926. Robert was born in 1902 in Dubbo, NSW, son of Arthur Swinton MacKenzie & his wife Eve née Tibbitts. He was a Grazier in Tullochard, Mitchell, Queensland, a long-established pastoral station. Robert died in October 1969 and Laura in August 1979, both in Toowoomba, Queensland. They had five children :

Robert Jock Milford MacKENZIE

Alan Stanley MacKENZIE

Peter Arundel MacKENZIE

Bruce Swinton MacKENZIE 1933-1996

Patricia Laura (Pattie) MacKENZIE

Arthur Stanley WILSON, third child of Stanley and Isabel born 28th October 1907. He attended the Armidale School before going to Oxford University in England and graduated B.A., B.C.L. and practised as a Barrister at the Middle Temple in London. He served as a Lieut. in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RN.V.R). He was a Sub- Lieut. from 1.12.1939 and Lieut. from 2.1.1940.
He was killed in action in the North Sea. He was in charge of the minesweeper, "Robert Bowen", when it was bombed and blown up by German bombers on 9th February 1940. He is remembered with honour at the Lowestoft Naval War Memorial in Suffolk.

Bruce Comyn WILSON, born 11th May 1910 fourth child of Stanley and Isabel. He attended the Armidale School and then became a Grazier in Warwick, Queensland. In 1933, Bruce purchased the Brook property near Gore (Brooklyn Station) and stocked it with breeding ewes. Bruce’s grandfather, Charles Graham Wilson, originally settled near Warwick when he came out from England in the 1860s.
Bruce married Marjorie MacDOUGALL at St Stephen's Church, Macquarie Street, Sydney, in 1936.
Bruce died on 28th December 1988 and is buried in Point Clare Cemetery, NSW.

Pixie Joy WILSON, born about 1922. She married John FOLEY on 14th June 1946, in Hampstead, London.

Adela B. Milford BARNETT, third daughter of John Barnett and Selena, born about 1885, in Ireland. In the 1901 census, Adela is living at home with her parents. In 1911 she appears as an “inmate” student in St Andrew’s Home, Fawcett Rd, Southsea, which specialized in the “Diocesan training for women”.
Adela died on 20th May 1949 in Crossways Nursing Home, Weston-Super-Mare. Her address was 58 Beach Road. She is probably buried in Weston-Super-Mare.

J164) Higginson JOHNSTON youngest son of John & Maria Johnston, was born around 1790. He was an attorney and qualified at the King's Inns, Dublin in 1816. He married Sarah HUTTON, daughter of Alderman Henry HUTTON & his first wife Elizabeth BARBER. The marriage took place in St Peter’s Church, Dublin on 29th January 1810.

Higginson died at n°134 rue Royale, Boulogne sur Mer, in France, on 11th June 1828, aged 38. “A pencil copy from France” of Higginson Johnston’s will is in the National Archives in Dublin, dated 30th August 1826, in which Higginson instructs that the whole of his property is to be equally divided between his four children.

He requests his sister-in-law Susan Guinness, wife of John Grattan Guinness, and Mrs Thorpe, wife of the Rev Dr Thorpe, to take upon themselves the guardianship of his daughter Susan, and Dr Thorpe and his cousin Thomas Murray, Hope St, Liverpool, to take guardianship of his three sons.

On the death of Mrs Guinness, Higginson appoints, by Codicil dated 18th October 1827, Maria Johnston, “his very dear mother”, as one of the guardians of Susan. Higginson & Sarah had four children :

J1641) Susan JOHNSTON. She married Henry GRAVES, born 1797, on 2nd November 1833 in St George’s Church, Dublin. They lived in Hollybrook Park, Dublin and later in Fishergate, Preston in Lancashire.Henry GRAVES died on 8th December 1862 in Fishergate. They had eleven children:

Sarah Jane GRAVES

Susan GRAVES

Anne GRAVES

Adelaide Eliza GRAVES

Henry William GRAVES

William Percival GRAVES

Maria GRAVES

Catherine GRAVES

Benjamin Champney GRAVES

Robert GRAVES

Edmund Johnston GRAVES

J1642) Higginson JOHNSTONborn around 1814. Educated in TCD, aged 20 in 1834. Higginson died on 7th November 1879 at Farnham House, Dublin.

Farnham House was built during the 18th century and was the home of Lord Farnham. It was then sold to a Dr Duncan for use as an asylum, for the “treatment of the upper and middle classes”, though it is uncertain if Higginson was a long-term patient or merely there for a brief indisposition coincidental to his death.
Probate was granted to Higginson's niece, Anne Graves.

J1643) John JOHNSTON born around 1815. Educated in TCD, aged 17 in 1832

J1644) Henry JOHNSTON youngest son of Higginson & Sarah Johnston. He married Sarah HOMAN in April 1839 in the parish church, Grangegorman, Co Dublin.

Henry died in January 1884, late of 54 Lower Mountpleasant Avenue, Rathmines. Probate was granted to his niece, Anne Graves..

Dr Barnett - photo found by Susan House and contributed to this site following her research, together with the picture of Edith Isobel / Elizabeth Isobel below. We are very grateful for Susan's generosity.

John Gemmill Barnett

Dr John Milford Barnett with Kennet, Ashley and Leslie in about 1905. Photo taken by Selina

Susan House found this photo marked "Edith Isabel Campbell Barnett", together with the above picture of Dr John Barnett, in a bought album. This was taken in May 1878, when she was seven months old, by E T Church of Belfast who was in business between 1870 and 1879.